In HPD a call is dispatched like the following most of the time. Except from about 0330 to 0600 hours there are call takers on duty who do nothing but receive 911 & 311 calls. When a call comes in a pre-formatted screen is brought up in a computer with the call taker who asks the necessary questions to determine the type of police, fire, or medical service needed, where it's needed, who is involved, and anything else that is needed. For most non-emergency calls after the dispatch information is filled in on the screen, the computer picks the most appropriate unit(s) and electronically sends the basic call information to the necessary unit(s) via their in-unit mobile data terminals. That ends the call taker's actions for that call.
For certain emergency calls, the caller may be kept on hold and the call transferred to a dispatcher who works the radio and who can also send call information via computer terminals to the responding unit(s). If a unit does not have a mobile data terminal voice transmission is utilized. This is done when the caller may be witnessing a serious crime or situation where constant updates of information are needed.
At about 0330 hours business is quiet in Henderson, normally and the call takers go home. The dispatchers then handle the phones and radio. Most of the time especially late at night when quiet a dispatcher may be reading a book in dispatch. This is also when new dispatchers are trained so it is quiet in the large dispatch room. Usually four call takers are on duty and two dispatchers along with at least one supervisor.
Their facility approaches being state of the art compared to some older facilities where there is no computer dispatching or call takers and the poor overworked dispatchers must answer emergency lines, non-emergency lines, do all dispatching via radio, handle walk-ins at a front lobby desk and perhaps work 12 hour shifts with little or no breaks. I can appreciate the stress created in this particular environment as I have done this type of work in another state. The longest break I ever took was several minutes and had to eat my meals in the dispatch room. Fortunately, I did not need the money so I resigned and went back to being a retiree. Call takers make the operation run more smoothly and this is how HPD and the LVMPD operate. Computers can sort thru the information provided and prioritize the calls into an order where the most serious calls get sent to units first and other calls are held until higher priority calls are completed. Computers can pick the most appropriate unit(s) to send for a given type of situation. In Henderson a computer keeps track of all the fire equipment, in or out of quarters and can suggest the closest unit(s) to send for a given call.
How dispatching has changed in most departments for the better.
